Dying Young
by Creamish
Summary: Fighting. That's what Seto Kaiba had to do too much in his life..  But when a certain girl offers help, the fight will get more interesting. -  PLEASE REVIEW! Should I continue writing this story...of not? -
1. Chapter 1

Dying young.

- November 2011 -

Funny. How one moment you feel completely fine and the other you feel like throwing up the entire content of your stomach. It's like wanting to run but 2 min into the run you want to give up. You feel weird, powerless... and frustratingly out of breath.

This is how he felt. Seto Kaiba. Which would be funny, right? THE Seto Kaiba, his skin now in a whiter shade of pale, sitting in a chair, shivering while waiting for the next throw up-session. A lot of people would indulge into the mere fact of knowing. For he was arrogant and conceited and for he had a selfish disdain for the feelings of others. It made him realize how ironic life could be. Of course no one knew about HIS past and the way he decided to cope with it because it happened to HIM Not them. They wouldn't understand anyway, so why bother?

But somehow, along this ironically 'funny' way, someone did understand. It was the last person he would have thought of. For days he could find himself thinking over and over again 'why HER?'. Why not Mokuba? Or hell, even Roland.

Heh.. Funny... yes indeed.

Because if you really think about it, carefully... Does anyone deserve dying from cancer?

- 3 years ago. November 2008 -

Kaiba Corp. 8:30 am and it was irritatingly warm for the time of the year. In his somehow oval office sat Seto Kaiba typing furiously on his macbook wanting to finish whatever he was working on. He had been feeling slightly feverish for the last few weeks but he brushed it off. Anyone can get sick with this type of weather.

"Sir, Mr. Nagamouri on line 1. He said it's urgent. Should I tell him to wait?", said his secretary through the speakerphone.

"Put him through", Kaiba said. He picked up the phone and with his famous all-knowing, I'm-gonna-get-this-deal smirk he answered "Mr. Nagamouri, what seems to be the problem?".

"Good morning Mr. Kaiba, listen..."

An hour later Kaiba got the deal and sat back in his chair, sighing. 'Finally', he thought. During the call he began feeling way to warm, which made it obvious to him he was developing a persistant fever. He decided to get up and then what happened, happened real fast. He stumbled over his extravagant chair and fell face-down on the ground leaving him laying there knocked-out.

His love-struck secretary heard this of course and immediately called an ambulance. By the time Kaiba regained conciousness he was laying in a hospital bed, surrounded by doctors and his little brother holding his hand.

Meanwhile in another part of the hospital, stood surgical nurse Anzu Mazaki, catching up on unsigned charts. She had heard some rumours about there being a famous person in the hospital but she didn't really show any interest. You would think 'why is Anzu a nurse and not dancing somewhere on broadway?'. Well, here's the thing. That's exactly what she did.

After finishing High School she was discovered by a dance company who mainly directed shows on broadway. So she took her chance and danced. After 2 years she broke her ancle and that was that.

She was devastated. But eventually, slowly, she got over it and started studying to become a surgical nurse.

While she walked through the hallways she could hear everyone whisper about this mistery celebraty guy laying in the hospital. Rolling her eyes she thought sarcastically, 'Jezus, people, give it a rest. Difficult to grasp, I know, but famous people get sick too, ya know?'.

"Anzu, have you heard? The so-called mistery guy is Seto Kaiba! Didn't you go the high school with him?", Kiara said teasingly smirking.

"What? What is Kaiba doing here?", she asked frowning. "Has he been hospitalized?".

"Well, yeah, obvious much?", Kiara said rolling her grey eyes. Anzu mildly glared until she remembered something. She grinned.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but...", she paused, knowing she was about to make her friend panic, "weren't you supposed to be on rounds 20 mins ago?", Anzu said with an sweet evil smile. Kiara looked at her watch and screamed, "WHAAAAT? Anzu, I'm gonna kill you! Couldn't you have told me, I don't know, TWENTY MINUTES AGO?", Kiara said, clearly panicing.

"See you later, Kiara", Anzu sing-a-songed. She giggled as she saw her friend running like a possessed person. Two minutes later she found herself frowning again and thinking 'I'm gonna check out what going on here.'

A/N: Well, this is my second story. Hope you'll like it :)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 : Leukemia

"I what?", Seto said.

"You have something called Acute Myelogenous Leukemia or AML. This kind of leukemia occurs more commonly in men than women. "

"I have leukemia?", Seto asked again.

"He has leukemia?" Both Anzu and Mokuba shouted.

Everyone turned at the door. And there she stood, shocked at the news she just heard.

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Kaiba", Dr. Suzaka answered confused, frowning at Anzu.

'Mazaki?', Seto thought glaring.

"What the hell are you doing here, Mazaki? This is a private room. GET OUT", Seto growled arrogantly. Used to his verbal outbursts Anzu calmly replied, "I work here, Kaiba. I'm a surgical nurse... Dr. Suzaka, I'm sorry, I heard about this but I had to see for myself."

"You aren't supposed to be here, Miss Mazaki. This conversation is stricly confidential. You cannot decide and 'see for yourself'.", Dr. Suzaka said with authority.

"I'm sorry.", she said. Even though she didn't really mean it. In fact while she apologized she kept watching Kaiba and Mokuba, who was currently on the verge of tears.

"What are the survival rates?", Seto suddenly inquired in a cold, distant voice.

Surprised, Dr. Suzaka turned to Seto and replied professionally, "The five-year survival rate is 40%. Which means you will have to undergo chemotherapy." Anzu mentally gasped. She immediately looked at Mokuba, who was now crying silent tears while Kaiba's hand stroked his hair.

'Mokuba...', she thought sadly watching the scene.

"Great. Get out", Seto growled, yet calmly. Knowing this was his cue, Dr. Suzaka replied, "We arranged a chemo-appointment for next week on monday at 1 pm. I will check on you later, sir. We will get you discharged by the end of the day". Turning to Anzu, Dr. Suzaka angrily said, "Now that you 'saw for yourself' you will check up on him every half hour. If I so much hear one complaint I will have you doing scut for a month!". Kaiba heard this and smirked 'this should be interesting', he thought.

"But sir, I have patients to attend to.", Anzu interjected, hoping she could get out of being forced to NURSE Seto Kaiba! Dr. Suzaka replied, "I will see to that. As of now, you have one patient only. Don't make me regret this, Miss Mazaki.". With an air of authority he exited the room.

"Well, shit.", Anzu sighed. Forgetting she was currently still in the room.

"YOU are saying shit? Get the hell out, Mazaki. You, of all people, are the last person who can help me!", Seto shouted angrily, yet slightly exhausted. Anzu turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "Listen, Kaiba. I know this must be highly annoying, the fact of having me nursing you. I'm truely sorry that you have leukemia but I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for the sweet little innocent boy who is crying next to you in fear of losing his big brother. So... what is it, Kaiba? You want to die? Well, if so, that's between you and whatever god you believe in. But if you're going to fight me, that's between me, you and the godgiven medicine that is going to help you to survive. So, I'm telling you right now to stop your aimless whining, AND LET ME DO MY FREAKIN' JOB.", She shouted. That said, she turned on her heels and stomped out of the room.

Seto snorted as he watched her leave the room. Then he felt a small hand squeeze his left hand. He turned his head towards Mokuba who was looking at him, crying. "Come here, kid".


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

'Damn it, it wasn't bad enough that I had to quit dancing, now I have to nurse Kaiba for the entire day! Someone obviously hates me up there', Anzu thought glaring at the ceiling of the hospital cafeteria, arms crossed and her food untouched. 'How dare he? That arrogant, selfish, conceited excuse of a man!', she continued thinking angrily while looking at her club sandwich.

Then she heard a small boy laughing, eating his poundcake. When she looked at the little boy, she instantly thought back to Mokuba. She couldn't believe something like this could happen to a sweet boy like Mokuba who desperately needed his brother to live. 'What the hell is happening? Is the universe really THAT screwed up? I mean, yeah, Kaiba might be a jerk, but no one deserves cancer.'

Deep in her thoughts, she didn't notice when Mokuba approached her in the cafeteria.

"Anzu?", said Mokuba. Anzu shrieked, completely startled by the sudden voice interrupting her thoughts. She turned her face to Mokuba.

"Mokuba! Is something wrong?", Anzu asked alarmed.

"No, I just wanted to talk to you about something", Mokuba said, watching his feet.

"Go ahead, what is it?", she watched him hesitate. She watched as he began shuffling his feet, kicking an imaginary stone. He met her eyes for a brief second before casting his eyes downwards again. "Mokuba, you can tell me", Anzu said, giving Mokuba a motherly comforting smile, now turning her body to Mokuba too, so that she faced him entirely.

He looked at her with teary eyes. "What would you think about a new job?".

"What do you mean?", Anzu frowned. She saw his teary eyes and her right hand automatically shot up to rest on the boy's shoulder.

"The doctor said it was wise to hire a nurse to take care of him at home since it won't be necessary to stay in the hospital after he got the chemo treatment. I... I want you to..take care of him.", Mokuba said hesitatingly with a glint of hope in his boyish grey eyes.

"But...Mokuba... didn't you hear what your brother said? I'm the last person he's willing to allow to help him. I bet I'm the last person he'd want to wander around in his home.", Anzu explained concerned. Mokuba closed his eyes, hiding his tears and starting talking, pleading..

"He's just saying that! Come on, you know how he acts when someone invades his personal space except for me. He says stuff he doesn't always mean. Please, you said you would do it for me. Not for him. Please. I don't want him to die. We will pay you well, you'll have your own room, your own bathroom. Please, I will do anything...", Mokuba kept talking. He was crying hysterically and Anzu couldn't do anything but watch.

"Okay!", Anzu said with sad eyes, "I'm willing to do it, but only if your brother agrees. Please don't cry. ". Mokuba looked at her hopefully, tears still running down his cheek, "Really? You promise?".

"I promise", Anzu reassured, smiling softly. "I would do anything to help you, you little monkey", it probably wasn't the right time to joke around but she wanted him to feel better. "I'll come and check how he's doing in 10 minutes. We'll discuss it."

"Thanks, Anzu", Mokuba replied, and while he turned around to return to his brother's room, Anzu saw a small, relieved smile.

"It is out of the question!", Kaiba roared, crossing his arms. It seemed like he was trying to put up some kind of defense by shielding away his upper body. 'A typical defensive kind of body language' Anzu concluded.

"Who do you think you are? 30 minutes ago you were yelling at me and now you supposedly want to live in my conveniently large mansion to take 'care' of me. I might be sick, Mazaki, but I'm not stupid. So.. Do us all a favor and get lost. I don't want your...assistance.".

"You might not want it, Kaiba, but we both know you damn well need it! Get over yourself. First of all, I don't give a shit about your 'conveniently' large mansion. For all I care, you could live in a dumpster. Second of all, the doctor clearly said you need a nurse to assist you during that time you will throw up so intensely, you will think you just threw up your bowel. And thirdly..", Anzu continued, accentuating every numeral with raising a finger.

"Thirdly WHAT? I suppose you're going to tell me I'm going to need someone who actually cares about me? I have Mokuba. Don't bother.", Seto smirked, thinking he had her all figured out.

"No Kaiba, I was going to say : THIRDLY, you will need someone to administer morphine while you will be laying in bed crippled, shivering in excruciating pain because of the virus they just injected in you to stop the cancer from developing and killing you. Get that through that thick skull of yours!", Anzu smirked knowingly.

'That'll shut him up', Anzu thought raising an eyebrow grinning. She watched Kaiba glare at her. Somehow along the argument they began having a glaring contest.

She wouldn't have known what Kaiba thought because after glaring at each other for the last thirty seconds he narrowed his eyes and growled at her, "Get out!".

"But Seto, please. I asked her. I want her to take care of you! Not some random nurse we don't know. I know her, Anzu is nice! She's good at her job.", Mokuba began pleading in a determined voice with big sad undeniable puppy eyes. "Please..."

Seto looked at him and then quickly looked away for we all know he was a sucker for his brother's puppy eyes. 'Damn it. ', he thought. After a minute of battling against his cute face and god, we all know one minute is more like an hour when you're standing there waiting for any kind of decision, Seto actually gave in.

"Whatever", Seto said rolling his eyes. "ALRIGHT! Thanks Seto", Mokuba shouted excited with a smile. It was the first smile he managed after the grave news. Seto answered with a nearly invisible cornersmile which left Anzu flabbergasted. Her eyes widened and her mouth slightly opened. 'What? Is he... smiling?', she thought surprisingly shocked. 'Apparently wonders do happen.', she thought with a smug face.

"Wipe that expression of your face. You look more ugly than you already are.", Seto grinned, daring her to answer.

She shrugged it off turning her gaze to Mokuba. It delighted her to see him smile again.

"GREAT! So, Anzu, I think you should start on monday since he'll get his first chemo-session on monday. I'll make sure your room is next to Seto's, so you can get to him asap when he needs you.". Kaiba snorted to that. 'Yeah, right.', he thought raising an eyebrow at Mokuba.

"Oh man, I'm going to show you all my videogames, you're going to be blown away! I have like a million of them...". Mokuba was so busy ranting about the stuff he was going to show Anzu that he missed the fact that Anzu and Seto were glaring at each other again. Sending silent angry messages, mostly coming from Seto. Anzu glared back to prove her persistance. The hell is she would let him intimidate her.

'He, of all people, should know I'm not that kind of girl.', Anzu thought while glaring back with her hands on her hips.

"Euh, hello? You guys?", finally Mokuba noticed them not listening to him. They broke eye contact and stared at Mokuba.

"Yeah, I was just saying I'm going to get something to eat. See you later Anzu!", with that, Mokuba walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Anzu then turned around, lifted her hand to open the door until she was stopped by a cold voice calling her name. "Mazaki"

"Yes, Kaiba", she replied annoyed, remaining with her back turned to him.

"If you think you're going to be able to infiltrate yourself into my life and my home, acting like everything's normal and you're just doing your job..you're dead wrong. You will mind your own business. You will make sure my brother, as well as I, are satisfied with the work you will deliver. If not, you will be left without a job. And we both know I don't just mean the job at the mansion. Got that? Or should I put it in writing for your incompetent brain to read?", Kaiba calmly smirked while looking at the backside of her head.

Anzu chuckled. She turned around, looked at him and spoke as arrogantly as he did with an identical smirk.

"See you on monday, jerkface... As for my incompetent brain, it will save your life."

As she closed the door behind her, she let out a giggle as she heard Kaiba release an animalistic ready-to-kill growl.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It was quickly monday and Seto had been laying in bed for 6 days in a row. During that time the fever hasn't ceased and he became well aware of his disease. He kept wondering if he had caught it earlier, he could've prevented it.

'I guess these things just happen, huh', Seto thought rather pissed off. 'I have freakin' meetings to attend, I still have tons of work to do, there's a boardmeeting next week, there are files to be overlooked and who knows what more by now and I'm laying in bed with leukemia... Talk about karma biting you in the ass.', Seto stopped himself there. Since when did he believe in karma? He shook his head, trying to free himself from the thought. Seto Kaiba was a rational, down to earth guy. There is a right and wrong and the consequences of your actions. Karma? He didn't think so.

It was now 10:30 am. At 11 am Anzu Mazaki would come waltzing through that door, and make herself comfortable in her new room. Seto mentally gagged at the thought. He always found her a preppy, sickening cheerleader, loudly cheering along her nerd squad for Yugi. That opinion of her didn't change A BIT. Now she was expected to take him to the hospital for his first chemo-session. Mokuba was already at school so he couldn't come.

Before Seto realized it a half hour already passed, he heard the doorbell ring loud and clear. Nothing happened. The doorbell rings again.

"Is anyone going to get the door, you brainless... ", Seto yelled.

"I'm sorry sir, I will go right away", one of the maids replied in fear. Leaving a highly irritated CEO, cursing under his breath.

The door was opened and there stood Anzu. Dressed in a white turtleneck, skinny jeans, brown boots, and a beautiful brown scarf. Very much Sex And The City. It gradually became colder during the last couple of days. 'The weather these days is just so unpredictable', Anzu thought bothered while dragging her kinda heavy suitcase into the house. 'Or should I say 'mansion'?', She rolled her eyes at this. But as she saw the entrance hall she gasped. Loudly. It was enormously huge! 'Yeah...definitely mansion.', she sweatdropped. With wide eyes she gaped around.

'Oh my god! This hall looks like it came right out of Belle and the Beast! I knew Kaiba was rich but this is just downright ridiculous.', Anzu thought, making a troubled face. Frowning at the absurd general splender, that was currently engraving itself in her mind, she was lead to her room which was right next to Kaiba's, ..as Mokuba promised. Knowing this beforehand, she dropped everything in her kind-sized room, where she gaped around for about another 3 minutes, and then decided to check on Kaiba first. Since... this was her job. Unfortunately.

Entering the room, she saw Kaiba with his eyes closed, leaning against the headboard of his bed. He was breathing relatively slow, which indicated, according to her, that he was sleeping. When she lifted her hand to touch his forehead to feel if his fever had gotten worse, she was brutally stopped.

"What do you think you're doing?", Seto suddenly said. When Anzu let out a scream of horrified surprise, he let out an evil chuckle. Proud to still have the power to alarm her.

"Kaiba! Damn it, you scared the shit out of me! What do you think I'm doing? I'm checking your temperature to see if your fever has gotten worse.", Anzu yelled practically in his face.

"Hey! You don't need to yell!", Seto sissed through his pearl white teeth, now more angry than before.

"Yeah, well, you also didn't need to scare me, now did ya?", Anzu answered back.

"You don't miss a thing, do 'ya'?", Seto mocked, wearing his well-known you're-so-stupid grin.

"Shut up! In an hour and a half you're going to have chemo. Prepare for it, instead of joking around, trying to scaring me. ", Anzu glared back at him.

"I have to stop you right there. First of all, I didn't try. I did, and I quote, scare the shit out of you. And besides, I'm not afraid for some chemo.", Seto said looking straight ahead. You could see the displeasure on his face while Anzu was checking his vitals.

"You're not?", Anzu asked mildly surprised, raising her eyes to look at him. "Kaiba, this is not just some chemo, your body is going to react strongly against it. You will lose your hair. You will experience pain like no other pain ever felt. After chemo you will feel really sick and...", Anzu tried to explain until Seto cut her off.

"I know what will happen! Stop talking at me like I'm some sick patient!", Seto shouted angrily. Her head backed away.

"You are a sick patient...", Anzu answered. In her mind she was surprised she wasn't scared by his intimidating voice. 'Guess 3 years of being a nurse does that to you..'

"Well, I might be, but I'm not afraid of dying so quit the friendly explaining and just do your job!", Seto practically yelled. Then he turned his head to the window and continued to stare until she was finished checking his vitals. After she was done she sat there for a while, eyes looking at her demin covered legs. Contemplating what he just said.

"Well, you should be...", Anzu concluded, looking up.

"Should be what?", he replied, still staring outside.

"Afraid.. It means you have something to lose.", she said looking at him, folding her hands onto her lap. She didn't move until she saw him avert his gaze to her. Cerulean blue met Royal blue. As she saw an uncharacteristical glint of fear in his eyes, she decided to stand up and calmly walk out of the room, very aware of his eyes following her.

'Maybe he's not so emotionless as we thought..', Anzu thought thoroughly pleased and softly smiling.

Meanwhile, back in the room...

'Since when is she able to shut me up every time we're in the same room?', he thought not so pleased. In reality he, himself, didn't realize that he WAS suffering from what was happening to him. The knowlegde of having cancer made him unconsiously think about...life. The simple act of living. He suddenly realized he adored life. That he actually WAS afraid of dying. He thought about Mokuba's life. About what might happen if he wasn't there to guide him. Would he become cold? Or would he stay like he is now? He thought about his parents' life. How they died in a car accident. So sudden. How they loved each other so much that when his mother died on the table first, his father died of a broken heart. Literally, not only metaphorically.

But then again, life is just that. To be born and to die. You would wake up one morning, decide to go get a coffee and get run over by a truck. Everything in between is just a story waiting to be told.

How is that fair?

**-An hour later-**

Seto sat in the limo that was driving him to the hospital. Anzu was sitting across from him reading an article written in a medical journal. While looking at her reflection in the window he saw the article was about leukemia. Was she studying?

"Are you studying?", Seto asked out loud.

Anzu raised her eyes to his face and simply answered "Yes". She returned back to the article.

"You want to take care of me but you need to study the disease first?", Seto frowned, crossing his arms.

"I know what your disease is. It is called leukemia. Why can't you spell it out?", Anzu answered calmly, eyes still down, stressing on the word 'disease'. "Is it hard for you to spell the word?", she mocked. Seto gave her an angry smile. 'The nerve of that girl', he thought. But surprisingly, he swallowed the insult. He had worse things on his mind at the moment.

"Then what are you reading?", he asked, looking back through the window.

"I'm reading about what would be best to give you to eat, so that you'll feel less nauseous after the chemo-session.", Anzu replied. She looked at him, slightly tilting her head. Her eyes narrowed to make out his expression while looking at his profile. When he didn't reply, she brought her attention back to the article.

Through his mirror, he gazed at her reflection. Seeing she looked up for a second to see where they were, he quickly looked away. The hell if he would let her catch him 'gazing' at her. Yet somehow, he started wondering why he gazed at her at all.

The limo came to a halt. "Sir, we arrived.", Roland informed through the cars' intercom.

"Thank you, Roland. Pick us up in an hour", Seto commanded.

"Of course, sir.", Roland replied with respect. He got out of the car and opened the door for Seto, helping him out. When Anzu gathered her stuff, she got out of the car too and the two of them started walking to Oncology.

**-In the waiting room-**

After waiting 10 minutes in the waiting room, they were asked to enter the room. Seto hated the smell. It smelled so... chemical. Anzu was asked to sit down in the chair at the doctor's desk while he seated Seto on the patient chair. Dr. Milton began talking.

"I will inject ara-c and Idamycin into your bloodstream. The purpose of induction chemotherapy is to bring the disease into remission. It will be intense. Miss Mazaki will watch as I inject the drugs so that she can continue to give you the drugs for the rest of the week. It takes a patient usually three or more weeks to recover from the treatment. After recovery you will be asked to come back for blood analysis.", Dr. Milton explained.

"What happens if I don't go into remission?", Seto askes skeptically. He raised an eyebrow and looked the doctor straight in the eye.

'Seriously, Kaiba, this is not the time to intimidate the oncologist.', Anzu thought disapprovingly while watching Seto glare. She shook her head, eyes getting wider to make a point. When she realized Seto was too busy glaring at the doctor, she mentally shook her head and listened to the doctor.

"If your blood analysis show no sign of succesful remission, we could repeat induction chemotherapy once or twice. If afterwards the results should come back positive on cancer cells, we should consider a bone marrow transplant. Which would be your best shot at long-term remission.", Dr. Milton explained, slightly spooked by Mr. Kaiba glare.

Seto frowned. "Then why not give me the bone marrow transplant now?"

Dr. Milton got interrupted by Anzu. "Because aside from this being your best shot at a long-term remission, it also comes with high risks and serious side effects, Kaiba. A bone marrow transplant is used for AML patients to whom chemotherapy alone is unlikely to provide long term remission. And apart from that, it doesn't mean you will be cancerfree. It means you will be _living_ with cancer.", It seemed Anzu spoke with a concerned voice...

Seto glared at her, startled by her interaction. "I AM living with cancer now", he growled irritated.

"No Kaiba, _now_, you are dying from cancer.", Anzu replied looking him in the eyes. He stared at her for a moment.

"Can't you keep her mouth shut for one freakin' minute?", he decided to shout, angry at her disrespectful reply.

"No, I can't. I think we already established that, smart ass.", Anzu wittingly replied, she turned her head away from him, angered by his rude outburst in front of the doctor.

Dr. Milton turned back to Seto uncomfortably yet confident. "She's right, Mr. Kaiba. The bone marrow transplant is currently unnegotiable.". Knowing that the Seto Kaiba was all about negotiating. Seto gave Dr. Milton a death glare, understanding what he just said. Strongly holding his gaze he replied. "Do not mock me. Doctor. Let's get this over with.", emphasizing on the word Doctor.

**-in the limo-**

On their way back home, Anzu saw that Seto already started showing symtoms of recovery. He was shivering from the rising fever and dark circles began to form around his gorgeous eyes. He felt his skin beginning to hurt because of the boiling temperature in his body. He sensed her watching him and glared back at her.

"What do you want?", he snarled.

"Nothing.", she snarled back and she immediately turned her head to the opposite direction.

An awkward moment of silence passed. Anzu decided to break it.

"Your body is starting to fight it. It will begin with a fever. Further into the week, it will escalate. I suggest you to get into bed as soon as we arrive home.", she said in her professional nurse voice.

"Yeah, cause it's pretty obvious I'm not going to be running any marathon any time soon, don't you think miss nurse?", he replied sarcastically in attempt to mock her, still shivering. He rolled his eyes to emphasize his point.

"Obviously", she calmly said, glaring back.

He chuckled bitterly, shaking his head. This action caused Anzu to feel regret about what she replied. '...He has cancer and you seem to rub it in his face.'.

She looked at him with a apologetic eyes while biting her lip. When he didn't answer to her gaze, she looked outside, shifting her eyes to him ever so often.

Little did she know, that's exactly how he wanted her to feel. 'Pain in the ass', he thought, before closing his eyes, trying to shut out the pain.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Mokuba woke up slowly by the birds chirping to the morning sun. He slept like a baby. It was 7 am but since he didn't feel like coming out of his bed, he decided to lay down a little longer... until he heard someone's frustrated scream.

"KAIBA, please, stop pushing my hand away, I have to prepare you!", Anzu screamed frustrated.

"Leave me alone.", he weakly answered. It was his first day of chemotherapy at the house instead of the hospital, so it was Anzu that had to prepare him for his second chemo injection that was supposed to happen at 8 am. As she tried again, he pushed her hand away for the 10th time.

"Seriously? With the little strength you have left, you choose to use it to keep me from prepping you?, she asked while looking at him with her hand on her waist. She tapped her foot, waiting on his delayed answer.

"Yes.", was his dry response. His eyes were closed.

"So I assume that in about an hour you will probably prevert me from touching you while I'm supposed to administer your second chemo injection?", she asked raising her eyebrows.

"Yes.", he answered. His eyes still closed.

"Would you like another nurse then? A male one, as you would obviously prefer?", she responded, hiding a small smirk. 'Hehehehe', she grinned mentally.

"No.", he said, his eyes remaining closed.

"Are you going to keep responding me with one word?", she asked frowning now and very, highly, truely annoyed. The nerve of this guy!

At this, his eyes fluttered open. He looked at her smugly. His face was making an expression as though in deep thought. He examined her face, that was currently full of...anger, he decided.

"Maybe.", was his answer, smirking at her with a passion, celebrating his newfound victory.

She collapsed in the chair next to his bed and let out a long, frustrated, exhausted sigh. She looked at him looking at her. They stared at each other for 5 minutes. Anzu's face showed deep thought and Seto's face displayed sheer indulgance as he watched her struggle. What happened next surprised him, yet he released no sign of it in his expression. She suddenly stood up. She was never a quitter.

"Can I touch you now?", she asked, meeting her eyes with his.

He briefly looked at her from head to toe and then turned his head to the other side, looking through the window. She stood there for a second, blinking once or twice. After a brief moment, she softly smiled at HER newfound victory and began prepping him for the chemo.

**-Outside, at the door-**

"Can I touch you now?", Anzu just asked, challenging him. She looked him in the eye, apparently not afraid of his probable outburst. As he heard that, Mokuba smiled relieved. 'I knew she was going to be strong enough', he thought.

He looked at Anzu inserting a needle into his brother's vein. As she did this procedure, Mokuba frowned, imagining the pain that came with it and looked at his brother's face. Seto's face remained without emotion but he knew something was whirlpooling in there. Too bad he didn't know what it was. But it didn't matter. His brother deserved the best care possible and Anzu was providing it.

"There, all done", Anzu whispered with a little smile. Seto turned his head to her. He remained silent. As she turned, she didn't see the grateful glint in his eyes. But even though Anzu failed to notice this small gesture, Mokuba sure didn't. With a happy, sneaky smile, he decided to knock and enter the room without waiting for a response.

"Hey guys! How are you doing?", Mokuba smiled at both Seto and Anzu

"Hey Mokuba, I'm fine! I was just going downstairs to fetch some breakfast", Anzu smiled back. Mokuba smiled back as she exited the room. At the door she looked back one more time before closing it behind her.

"Mokuba. Hey. I'm fine. A bit...tired I guess. How was school yesterday?", Seto answered. His voice was slightly hoarse. He was shivering but tried his best to suppress it. He didn't want Mokuba to notice the pain he was in. The morning's were the only periods of time they could talk, and now, him being sick made it all more difficult.

"It was boring, as always", Mokuba rolled his eyes and sat on the bed next to Seto. "So, Anzu told me yesterday she was going to give you your second chemo injection. Are you scared?", Mokuba asked carefully.

"When did she tell you that?", Seto frowned. Who the hell did she think she was?

"Yesterday evening, you fell asleep and I insisted on her telling me what was going to happen next. At first she was persistant into not telling me but I pulled my sad puppy-eyes stunt on her and she caved", Mokuba grinned in his cute childish way. Seto shook his head, smiling lightly. Secretly proud at his persistance.

"Mokuba, all I hear these days are the words Leukemia, sick, therapy, injection, chemo, and so on. That is the last thing I want to talk about with you. With you, I want to talk about your friends, your school, games, how annoying the servants are, how you should cut your hair once in a while,.. ", Mokuba playfully punched his arm at this, looking positively scandalized.

"I like my hair just the way it is, thank you very much!", Mokuba said, raising his nose and closing his eyes. "And besides, you're the one to talk", sticking out his tongue.

"At least I cut it every month, I just prefer it to be on the same length", Seto smirked. He adored teasing his brother.

"Yeah, well, at least... at least..", Mokuba thought on a counter response but didn't come up with one. He crossed his armes, defeated.

"Come oooon, you always win at this game, it's not fair.", Mokuba whined, pulling out the imaginary white flag.

"Next time I'll let you win", Seto answered ruffling his hair.

"No, it's no fun like that!", Mokuba grinned. He looked at Seto ruffling his hair, enjoying the brotherly moment until it was interrupted by a loud growl. Seto looked at Mokuba with wide eyes. "What was THAT?", Seto asked amused.

"I'm just hungry, OKAY?", Mokuba said holding his tummy.

"Then you should eat", Seto smiled with a nod.

"I'll see you tonight, Seto! I'll bring home a donut for you", Mokuba offered, turning away from the bed.

"I'd prefer you bringing home good grades", Seto called after him, grinning.

"BYEEEE SETOOOO", Mokuba called back at him while rolling his eyes. He waved his hand at him and walked out of the room.

Seto chuckled and shook his head. That boy will never change... much to his delight.

**-Downstairs-**

Mokuba entered the kitchen, grabbed a sandwich and ran to the door.

"Mokuba, stop and eat properly", Anzu called after him in a motherly voice.

Mokuba shuffled back. "But I'm gonna be late!", cramming the sandwich down his throat.

"I doubt 2 minutes will make a difference.", Anzu smiled amused. She watched him almost suffocate himself into his sandwich. While he ate his eyes looked at the ceiling, nodding his face, chewing like a bunny.

"DONE! I gotta go! Bye Anzu!", Mokuba almost shouted. He opened the door and before closing it all the way, he heard her calling back to him: "Bye Mokuba!".

She shook her head amused. 'I hope that boy will never change', she thought happily.

Focusing her attention back to her sandwich, she finished it. 'Okay, it's 8:45 am. I hate this part... NO, I can do this. I'm participating in saving the life of Seto Kaiba. Saving lives. I can do that. I can do this', she mentally prepared herself. She walked to the box where she kept the instruments, took out the drugs for chemo and began climbing the stairs to Seto's room. 'I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this...'

**-Seto's Room-**

Seto watched Mokuba run to the limo that was taking him to school and began feeling nervous. He looked at the clock. 8:50 am. He sighed. In 10 minutes he was about to get his second chemo and frankly, his heart was beating so hard he thought it was going to jump out of his chest. As he thought that, Anzu came in. Their eyes met. Her eyes showing sympathy, his eyes showing anticipation. She walked towards him, placed the equipement on his nightstand and sat down on the chair.

"So, did you and Mokuba have a good talk?", Anzu asked with a light smile.

"This isn't the time for a chat, Mazaki", Seto answered glaring at her.

"You're wrong, Kaiba, as always. It actually will help you relax", Anzu dared to respond, staring at him.

"Then talk", he said, staring back.

"I'd rather have you talk, Seto", Anzu said with a sickening smile. He looked at her. Did she just call him by his first name?

"Last time I checked we were never on first name basis, so by all means, don't start now", Seto growled looking away. After all she wasn't worthy of his attention. Anzu looked up, pouting her lips. She pretended to think.

"Well, since I'm going to see you vomit your gut out at every possible occasion, see you transform into a bald Ken-doll and pretty much will help you in and out of bed for the next few years, I figured we were past that.", Anzu responded looking back at him with a raised eyebrow and a tiny grin, waiting for him to answer.

He looked back at her in disgust.

"You're enjoying this, are you?", he looked at her repulsed. Her face normalized.

"No, Kaiba, I'm not. No one deserves this. But it just happens. You're not the only one on the planet whose sick, so stop sulking and fight back. Let me help you. Stop wandering around in the past. It doesn't matter if I call you by your first name. It's just your name. What matters is that I give you this drug." And she showed him the sterilized syringe containing the drug. She continued, "What matters is that this drug will fight along with you. And most importantly, what matters is you. Alive. The hell if I'm going to let you die on my watch.", her gentle speech was determined. Confidant like the confidant person she always was.

"I see you still practice your speeches", Kaiba said, eyes showing amusement.

"Shut up", Anzu smiled. He turned his head to look at the door and closed his eyes.

"Let's get this over with", he said. Obeying his request, Anzu picked up the sterile package containing the syringe, opened it with glove-covered hands and turned to him.. She took a moment to look at him. His eyes were still closed and his body was tense. His breathing was regular yet overwashed by anxiety. She looked at his prepared vein, guided the syringe into the capsule leading to his actual vein and pushed the substance out of the tube.

She could see Seto getting more tense but as the feeling came, it went. Just as fast as the injection. She threw the empty syringe away and taped the still remaining guide-syringe to his arm to keep it from twisting. She wasn't supposed to take it out until sunday.

"I'm gonna go. If you feel anything, you call me, okay?", Anzu said, her eyes observing him.

"Okay", he answered tiredly.

Seto watched Anzu walk out the room after cleaning up her working area. As she exited the room, he closed his eyes, feeling the nausea already coming up. His eyes widened, feeling it coming up his throat.

'Alright... here goes nothing', he thought to himself preparing for the pain Anzu warned him about.

**-Sunday, last day of chemo – 12 pm -**

SCREAM.

Alarmed, Anzu looked up from her laptop on her bed at the wall that led to Seto's room. Knowing what was going to happen, she grabbed the basket next to her bed that she kept just in case and rushed to Seto's room.

As she pushed the door open, she saw Seto struggling. His face was pale, eyes extremely wide. He had his left arm around his torso and his right hand covering his mouth. She ran to his bed and quickly held the basket under his chin just in time. The moment she held it under his chin, he threw up everything he had to eat today and yesterday. These episodes had been happening since tuesday so Anzu became used to the frequent throw-ups.

As Seto stopped throwing up, Anzu gave him water to wash his mouth with and a wet cloth to dampen his face. Seto let his head fall against his cushion. He was exhausted, this had been going on for the entire week. He lost a great amount of weight, merely due to the fact he simply couldn't keep down the food he was given. During this week he had learned to modestly thank Anzu for helping him by nodding his head. As he lifted his head again, he ran a hand through his thick hair and when he retrieved his hand, he found a fistful chocolate brown hair bundled in his hand. His eyes widened yet again and then closed.

'I can't believe this... goddamn it...', he thought mortified. Anzu turned around and saw the bundle of hair in his hand. She knew this was going to happen.

"This was your last day, it's normal", Anzu sympathized. She came up with an idea.

"I know", he answered with a faint hint of disappointment in his voice. On the inside he felt like hell. He shook his head, still not believing this was actually happening. His HAIR, which he grew to love, was falling off. It was disappearing. Gone. Zero. Bald. When he opened his eyes to figure out Anzu's whereabouts, he didn't find her. Frowning he laid his head back down and tried to fall asleep but the moment his head fell on the cushion, he heard the door open.

He opened his eyes and found Anzu staring at him smiling with a foreign object in her hands. He tried to identify the object and when he looked closer he saw it was an electric raisor. With questioning eyes, he quickly looked back at her face.

"I figured we'd better shave it off. Watching your hair fall off is just to depressing. This way you won't notice. It'll be a new look. New style. Beside, you have caps, right?", Anzu explained clarifying her meaning.

He stared at her like she grew two heads.

"What?", she asked annoyed. She raised her hand to her waist. 'Damn it, I'm sick of his staring-in-oblivion moments!', she rolled her eyes, still holding the device.

"You want to shave off my hair? Have you lost your mind?", he finally answered uttering the words in a very articulate way. She looked at her dismissively.

"Are you hearing impaired? I just told you why", Anzu survived.

Seto considered it. While he was doing this he kept staring at her face and the device. Face, device, face, device, face, device.

"No", he decided stubbornly.

"Listen, it was just an idea, okay? It's not like I...!", she shouted annoyed. Her eyes widened the size of flying saucers.

"I said no", he answered amused by her face. She could really pull some strange faces.

"And here I thought you were going to agree with me. But let's be honest, in what world would THAT happen?", Anzu said, her enraged face never changing. 'This man is the example of a man I would NEVER, I repeat, NEVER learn to love.', she thought.

"In a world where magic would exist, dragons would fly free and animals would talk about their feelings.", Seto said, stating how ridiculous she sounded.

".Ha. You're getting funnier by the hour, you ass.", that being said, she stalked out of the room with steam coming out of her ears. Once outside she turned her head a little to the side when she heard him chuckle. Hearing this, she stood there for a second smiling to herself. At least she made him laugh, 'cause we all know that it's essentially what he really needs.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It's been three weeks since his first chemo. Seto began feeling better after feeling positively horrible. Anzu has been working around the house, helping Seto move around the house – much to his discomfort - , and creating a comforting invironment for Mokuba. Believe it or not, Seto was actually grateful for her help, even though he would never say this out loud. He found himself feeling uncomfortable when she wasn't around. Don't ask him why.

And then, as if on cue, Anzu walked into the room with a foodtray. She smiled lightly and sat down with the tray on her lap. Seto looked at her with dull eyes.

"What happened to those disgusting shakes you've been giving me for the last three weeks?", he asked raising both eyebrows.

"Well, since you're not throwing up anymore, I think it's time for you to start eating real food again.", she replied looking at the food in front of her. A banana, a bowl of cereal with milk and a glass of orange juice. She held to tray to him and looked up, expecting him to take over the tray. When he didn't do anything, she rolled her eyes and practically dropped the tray on his lap.

"Was that necessary?", he growled, glaring at her. He looked back at the tray that he was holding. Milk and orange juice now everywhere.

"I'm your nurse, Kaiba. There's nothing written in my contract about being your maid", she glared back. She stood up to check his temperature. It was falling down to normal...thankfully.

"Stop saying you're my nurse. It makes me sick to my stomach.", he snarled while being touched on the forehead by Anzu.

Anzu rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, oh master". And walked towards his bathroom to wash her hands. When she re-emerged she said, "In 3 weeks we're going back to the hospital to check on your progress. You remember, right?"

"Yes, I remember.", he said annoyed while watching her back as she put away all her medical equipement. "I told you, you don't have to tell me every week. I'm not a child.".

"Right, but I don't recessarily have to agree with everything you say.", she challanged with a grin on her face. He was so annoyed. She loooved it.

"Makes me regret I didn't put that in the contract.", was his reply, regarding her with a vicious glare.

"Yeah well, we all make mistakes.", she looked at him carefree. She grinned when she saw him rolling his eyes at her.

Thinking she won this argument, she was about to leave the room until Kaiba's voice stopped her. "I apparently made a mistake in hiring you.". She turned around.

"Believe me Kaiba, being forced to see your pretty face every day isn't exactly my idea of a rewarding job.", she said giving him her stongest vexed face. This angered the CEO. How dare she? He gives her a well-payed job and she badmouths it like it's no big deal.

"You know what Mazaki, seeing how sometimes you wear make-up on that ugly face of yours, maybe you should consider eating your make-up so you can try and be pretty on the inside. We both know you need it", he growled, his voice displayed a big amount of anger. Oh if he would be strong enough now, he would be staring her down in the most powerful intimitating manner.

"What's that supposed to mean, Kaiba?", Anzu growled back, taking a few steps towards his bed. Her tiny fists very visible.

"It means you're so fake, it makes Barbie jealous", he fired back. At this point his face was so neutral but his eyes implied otherwise. And man, did she know what he meant. He was talking about her infamous friendship speeches, the fact that she sees good in people and wants to help everyone, yet when it comes to him all these things don't exactly apply. 'Point taken, jackass.', Anzu thought irritated. Yet, even though she understood what he meant, she decided to answer differently.

"Ok, then this would probably be the stupidest thing I ever heard coming out of your mouth.", she said ignoring the hidden meaning while calmly staring back into his cold eyes. Meanwhile, on the inside it hurt her more than she would care to admit.

"I'm the CEO of Kaiba Corp. I don't do stupid.", he said smirking evilly-innocent for winning the argument.

"CEO my foot", Anzu muttered, looking around the room. When she looked around she saw random dirty clothes scattered around his room. She frowned. 'Why aren't the maids cleaning up his room?'. Shrugging, she began picking up his clothes. Seto watched her like a hawk. After all these years, he still couldn't believe her daring nature towards him. He never met someone who dared to speak to him that way. It was liberating, in a sickening way. He was torn out of his thoughts when he heard Anzu speak.

"Do you want to go downstairs later?", she asked turning her head to him while still picking up his dirty clothes. Their previous argument seemingly forgotten. During the last three weeks she's been helping Seto going downstairs. She didn't want him to stay in bed every hour of every day. Anzu was a firm believer it wasn't good for the patient's state of mind. Blushing lightly, she remembered the first time they decided to take a walk around the house.

**- FLASHBACK 2 weeks ago -**

"Mazaki, do I ever get to leave of this godforsaken bed?", Seto asked frowning in mild pain. He was still sick and barely recovering from last weeks constant throw-up episodes. And it was a mild pain because, damn it, now he did know what pain was.

"I was going to let you walk around next week. You're still in pain, Kaiba.", Anzu answered raising her gaze to him. She felt for him but didn't show it. You know why... Sometimes when you encourage a person to do something or feel sorry for them, they end up doing absolutely the complete opposite of what you wanted them to do or feel. And soon she learned that Kaiba was one of those people.

"I want to get out of this bed and I mean NOW", he shouted persistantly. His house, his will!

"Alright Kaiba, it's your call", she answered calmly, slightly frowning. 'He will never change', she thought mentally rolling her eyes. Anzu walked to the bed and stood there for a second waiting for him to place himself in the right position to get off the bed. During this process, Anzu noticed he already began breathing heavily because of the high strain he was putting on his body. He looked at her, eyes telling her he was ready. In his eyes she saw a glint of anticipation and fear as well, which made her hesitate.

She frowned tilting her head to the side. "Are you sure about this, Kaiba? You already seem in a lot of pain", she asked him. The hell he was going to let him yell at her for something he chose to do.

"Just pull me up, Mazaki, quit being so damn annoying all the time", he shouted, head bending downward to ground with his eyes shut. Anzu replied hot-headed. "Alriiiight, no need to shout! But don't say I didn't warn you afterwards.", to prove her point she pointed her index-finger at him while narrowing her eyes in extreme warning. Oooh, if he dared to shout at her, she was ready to scream!

He opened his eyes and saw Anzu was at his eye level. He looked into her eyes when she took both his forearms. In return, her eyes were still displaying warning and somewhere a little drop of concern. They held each others gazes for a second and before he knew it, he was slowly being hoised up. He groaned in pain, eyes squinting and holding Anzu's gaze. Anzu couldn't believe he was pulling this off considering the pain he was in. Her eyes widened a little as his breathing became erratic and his grip on her arms tightened with incredible force. She was stunned by the force in his hands.

And there he was. Finally, after 4 horrible weeks, standing up. Their faces were inches apart. His breath was hitting Anzu's face. She suddenly was happy he decided to do this after getting him to brushing his teeth. They stood there for a minute or two, breathing in each others faces and watching each other. There was this weird, highly uncomfortable moment. Anzu could see pride in Seto's eyes and in return Seto could see pride in hers. This confused him, why would she be proud of something he did? Their noses were now inches apart giving the impression that they were about to kiss. At the moment she thought they actually were seconds away from kissing each other, Anzu shot into action. She lowered her head and looked at the floor. The move was so sudden it caused Seto's lips to touch Anzu's forehead, mimicking a butterfly kiss. Seto didn't know how to react to this foreign feeling so he did what came natural to him. His shoulders tensed up and his feet shifted away from her. Realizing this, Anzu turned to his side awkwardly, both her hands and weight supporting his right arm. In the right position to move forward, Anzu glanced at Seto and together, they made their first step towards the door.

**- END FLASHBACK -**

"...Yes, but I'll go by myself", Seto replied, shaking Anzu out of her memory.

"... Ok. See you in a minute.", she answered back. She threw the clothes into a bin and exited of the room.

Seto finished his breakfast and slowly began sitting up on his bed, legs dangling over the edge. He really was beginning to feel better. Contented, he ran a hand through his hair. As he pulled back, a little flock of hair stuck to his fingers again. His hair was miraculously stubborn and seemingly refused to fall out rapidly. Seto peered at his hair in quiet observation. After what seemed like an eternity he sighed and looked up towards the door, his hair still nestled around his fingers. His eyes were showing a sense of sadness that thankfully no one else was witnessing at the moment. Then he blinked twice, dropped the hair on the floor, placed his hands on his bed and hoisted himself off the bed. 'Whatever, it's just hair...', he convinced himself.

**XXX**

Seto walked slowly but certainly towards the stairs. He was glad he was able to walk again. All those days in bed really got to him. He reached the stairs and looked down. He narrowed his eyes in surprise. There she stood, waiting for him next to a widely smiling Mokuba who wanted to see his big brother come down the stairs. When he saw Mokuba he managed to make a tiny corner smile appear. He leaned on the handrail and began walking step by step. He felt like an old man but frankly, he couldn't care less. He was walking without major pain. As he reached ground floor he took Mokuba by his shoulders and started walking towards the living room followed by Anzu. When he sat himself down in the king-sized couch, he let out a little sigh of satisfaction.

"I'm so glad you're feeling better, Seto. You went down those stairs like a pro!", said a sweet boyish voice next to him. Seto opened his eyes.

"Heh, thanks Mokuba. I'm glad too.", he answered looking at his little brother.

"Do you wanna watch some tv?", Mokuba suggested.

"Yes, let's.", Seto agreed. Mokuba stood up, reached for the remote and switched on the tv. He flipped a couple of channels and found a program he thought would intress his brother. Meanwhile Anzu was doing some things around the house and in order to do that, she had to pass through the living room. Mokuba noticed her.

"Anzuuu, come watch tv with us!", he called out to her enthusiastically. He was now turned to her with his little hands on the armrest of the couch and smiling.

"That's ok, Mokuba. I have a couple of things to do. You guys watch.", she replied smiling back. Frankly she didn't feel like watching tv with Mister I-don't-do-stupid. She was still angry about their argument. 'I'm not fake. I'm as real as one can be! Try finding someone else who cares enough to take care you. You'll run out of luck, you !*()!', she thought. Her rambling thoughts came to a halt when a certain boy called out insistently.

"Come on, you can do it later!", Mokuba insisted with puppy eyes. Anzu's eyes widened in mild warning. Stop it, her eyes were saying and in return Mokuba's eyes kept pleading. He even added a childish pout.

"Euhm...alright", she finally caved and awkwardly strolled towards the couch. Now, Kaiba's eyes were on her. Consciously avoiding Seto's gaze and feeling very uncomfortable she moved to sit next to Mokuba.

"NO. You can't sit here!", Mokuba yelled in alarm. Anzu and Mokuba watched each other silently. "Why not, Mokuba?", she sissed out, her eyes widening in discomfort.

"Mokuba, let her sit wherever she want.", Seto interfered. When he said that her eyes shifted between Seto and Mokuba. When nothing happened she decided to speak. "You heard the man", she said a victorious smirk.

"NO, I.. euh, I need this space to lie down because... whennnn... I watch tv I get sleepy.", it was a lame excuse but it seemed to work. Now Mokuba had his victorious smirk on. Anzu sighed in defeat and move towards Seto's end of the couch. She sat down reluctantly, arms crossed with legs curled up on the couch. She looked at the huge cinema-like flatscreen. Seto shifted a little. Now, this was weird. He was sitting between his baby brother and his pompon-waving nurse. But shortly he shrugged it off and resumed to watching the program. During this time he noticed Anzu's constant fidgeting.

"Relax, Mazaki. I'm not going to bite.", he whispered turning his head to her.

"I beg to differ.", she bit back making Seto turn his head back to the screen while rolling his eyes. They were silent for a while. After another 5 minutes of fidgeting she couldn't take it anymore.

"Ugh, this is just to weird! I'm sorry Mokuba, I really have to do those things now', she excused herself and hurried out of the room. In the proces of hurrying out of the room she failed to notice Mokuba disappointed face and Kaiba's irritated face. 'Weirdo', he thought.

**XXX**

Meanwhile, outside the room, Anzu stood against the wall. 'Ugh, Weirdo', she thought grossed out. She felt like going for a walk, she needed to talk to someone but she couldn't just leave the mansion. Kaiba needed 24/7 standby assistance.. At least for another 2 months. So she did the next best thing. She practically ran to her room, shut herself in and began searching for her phone. When she found her babyblue blackberry she dialed Shizuka's number.

"Anzu! Oh my god, I'm so happy you're calling! How are you? It's been like forever!", Shizuka said enthusiastically when answering her phone.

"Shizuka! I'm fine! How are you? I know, I'm sorry, I've just been so busy lately.", Anzu answered equally enthusiastic. She was happy to hear her friend.

"I'm fine girl, thanks for asking! How's your job? Joey told me it's pretty hectic nowadays.", Shizuka asked.

"Oh, it's hectic alright. But I really don't want to talk about work now", she answered hurriedly, avoiding telling her the fact that she was now working for Seto Kaiba himself. Although she also didn't find it right to tell people (read: her friends) about his condition. If he wanted the world to know, he would've had a press broadcast. Not exactly being a paparazzi-enthusiast, Kaiba chose not to. She continued, "How are Joey and Mai? And is everything still going smooth with Tristan?", Anzu asked teasing her.

Shizuka blushed behind the phone. Anzu didn't see her but she heard it. "Well, yes, euhm, I guess you can say everything is going smoothly. We... euhm... nothing! Joey and Mai are still the perfect cute couple. It's almost ridiculous. You'd never picture Joey being the romantic lover.", sticking out her tongue in playful disgust. Anzu laughed. "No, definitely not. But I guess if he's happy, we are too, right?". As she said this she let herself fall on her bed, face up.

"Right!", Shizuka giggled. "Yugi, on the other hand, is jumping from girl to girl in a surprisingly subtle way.", the girl continued, filling Anzu up on the lastest news.

"Really? Are we thinking about the same person here?", Shocked at hearing this news, Anzu shot upwards making her almost fall off her bed. She didn't recall Yugi being a heartbreaker.

"Oh yes, we are, Anzu. Since you guys broke up last year he became a womanizer. The break-up hurt him so much ", Shizuka explained. She knew this was kind of a sore subject.

"We were together for 6 months. That hardly qualifies as a steady relationship...", Anzu said uncertain. Mortified, she bit her lip and frowned.

"Anzu, it does", Shizuka sweatdropped raising a eyebrow.

"Well, at least he's over it?", Anzu tried.

"Devouring every moving thing with long legs and boobs doesn't exactly qualify as moving on, Anzu.", Shizuka smirked at her friend's attempt at convincing her she really didn't do anything wrong.

"I know...", Anzu sighed, agreeing with her friend. She was right... but shortly after she agreed she changed her mind. "No, you know what? He's a grown man now, we're not in high school anymore. Sometimes relationships just don't last. I'm not taking all the blame for this", Anzu said convincingly.

"I know, he's just coping.", Shizuka answered softly. She smiled. She knew Anzu didn't mean to hurt his feelings, so she dropped the subject. "Anyway, when are we going to meet up? It's been a while!", she asked.

Anzu hesitated. "I don't really know. I'm working 48-hour-shifts lately. You know, staff deficiency. I'm looking at about 2 to 3 months of constant work but I don't mind. They're providing a bonus for all the staff members who volunteer.". Ok, she lied. But who wouldn't? Shizuka wouldn't believe she worked for Kaiba anyway.

"Oh, that sucks!", Shizuka pouted in disappointment. When she said that, Anzu heard Mokuba called out to her. "ANZUUUUUUUUU", muffled from the hall.

"I know but listen, I have to go, my break is over. Gotta go. I'll call you when I get a day off, ok?", Anzu hurriedly suggested. Hoping Mokuba wouldn't come knocking on her door.

"Ok, I'll hear you soon, girl! Bye bye", Shizuka answered.

"Bye!"... Beep. Disconnected.

"AAAANZUUUU!", Mokuba called out again. It wasn't a scared call so Anzu called back calmly.

"I'm in my room, Mokuba", she said, unlocking her door. When he knocked she said he could come in.

"Hey, what are you doing here?", Mokuba asked kindly.

"Nothing, just hanging around. Checking my mails, you know", she lied.

"Aah, oke. Listen, I was wondering if we could take Seto outside for a while.", Mokuba asked. He thought it was time for his brother to take in some fresh air.

"Outside as in outside?", Anzu asked slightly worried. If someone catches her with Kaiba around, she's busted.

"I was thinking more -outside- as in our garden", Mokuba suggested.

"Of course! I'll come down in a minute", Anzu smiled. Mokuba smiled back and left her to change. "We'll be waiting for you in the living room!"., he called out from after the door.

"Alright!", she called back. Changing in something warmer and picking up her ugg boots, she made her journey downstairs. As she reached the living room, she saw Seto and Mokuba fully clothed, ready to step outside. It was then Anzu really took a good look at Seto's face. His skin was pale. His body, although still muscular, seemed slighlty weaker and his eyes.. those beautiful blue eyes looked rather tired instead of cold. He was holding onto the chair while waiting for her. When his eyes shifted towards hers, she felt her face grow warmer, thankfully not enough to blush.

"Are you going to keep standing there like a retarded person?", Seto suddenly snarled. Well, that broke the magic. Warm cheeks long forgotten, Anzu already had her answer prepared. As she opened her eyes to growl a response back, she was interruped by Mokuba.

"Seto, don't be so rude! She helping us out! At least try to be grateful", Mokuba said angrily. Sometimes he just didn't understand his brother. Of course he knew what had happened to him in the past. The things their stepfather made him go through were to horrible to mention. Yet he couldn't bring himself to understand why he always had to be so rude to people who are willing to help him, despite of his cruel reputation. He was never, ever, cruel to him but it still made him sad. 'I guess, he just really distrusts people. He can't bring himself to care about someone in fear of them abusing his kindness.'. Like he said, he understood but at the same time didn't.

"Don't talk to me like that, Mokuba. Don't tell me what I'm supposed to be grateful for. I know what I'm grateful for", Seto warned him. Both Anzu and Mokuba knew what he meant. He was grateful for his little brother and that was ALL, but he did believe in manners. He wasn't going to let his little brother talk to him like that. Especially not in front of Anzu Mazaki. Yet somehow, his brother's warning didn't scare Mokuba.

"STILL! You shou-", Mokuba insisted but was cut off.

"It's ok, Mokuba. I'm used to your brother behaving like a caveman.", Anzu said to calm the little boy down. While she said that, she looked into Seto's eyes. Seto was about to fire back but Anzu once again interrupted in a raised voice, "Let's go outside, shall we?", eyes displaying warning as well.

"After you", Seto answered calmly, gesturing towards the door. He wasn't about to burst into another argument in front of his little brother. He was in control. Taking Mokuba by his hand while holding Seto's gaze with an irritated smile, she stepped towards the backdoor and opened it. She stepped out into the garden. A chilled breeze hit their faces. It felt relaxing, especially for Anzu. They both turned around to see Seto slowly enter the garden. He briefly closed his eyes breathing in the fresh air. Seeing this, Mokuba hurried next to his brother's side and held his hand instead, smiling softly. Feeling a little hand touching his, Seto looked down. Seto's eyes smiled at Mokuba in silent apology. Mokuba's smile widened and intensified the grip on his big brother's hand, apologizing back. Understanding, Seto's head gestured towards the garden and Mokuba nodded.

They stared to walk around the garden enjoying the fresh air with Anzu strolling after them. When they reached a bench, Seto and Anzu sat down. Mokuba decided to run around the garden a bit more. They say there quitely and watched Mokuba run around. The boy needed to let out some frustration. The silence was broken when Seto started coughing a bit, luckily not loud enough for Mokuba to hear. Anzu immediately turned to Seto, checking what was wrong.

"It's nothing", Seto reassured. He moved away from her attemp to touch him and kept his gaze towards Mokuba.

"Let me check", Anzu said concerned.

"I said it's nothing Mazaki", Seto snarled.

"If it's nothing then let me check!", Anzu fired back.

Seto turned to her glaring. "Listen Mazaki, and listen carefully for once. I do NOT want Mokuba to see this. He is running off his frustration as we speak. Do not make him hurt more", although he said this in alarmed warning, his voice sounded out concern. When it comes to his brother, Kaiba just isn't the Kaiba the world knows. Anzu frowned in disbelieve.

"No, you listen Kaiba. Do you think he won't be hurt if he sees his big brother lying in a hospital bed if the chemo decided not to work? That maybe, if he were a bit older he would hurt less? Well, here's a reality check, Kaiba. The boy is already hurt way over the amount you think he is. All he wants is being able to see his big brother getting well again. All HE wants, at this point, is you alive. So do you really think he cares about how much I need to check up on you every hour of the day?", finishing what she said, she reached for his wrist.

"Do not touch me", Seto warned. He glared at her with so much intensity it made Anzu stop in her tracks. Satisfied by her reaction, he turned his gaze back to Mokuba and starting thinking. He crossed his arms. He realized that what she said disturbed him so much he felt like strangling her. Because.. essentially she was right. He just couldn't bring himself to admit it. His jaw clenched. 'I swear if she not going to shut up sooner of later I will end up strangling her', he thought highly vexed.

Pissed at being ignored, Anzu crossed her arms as well and turned to look forward. Inside, she was screaming at the top of her lungs. She began imagining a punching bag with Kaiba's face on it and mentally began hitting it with all the force she could manage. They sat there for another 3 minutes in deafening silence.

"The minute we arrive in your room I'm checking up on you", Anzu harshly whispered.

"Fine", Seto roughly whispered back. Both eyes still focused on the boy running around. Seto kept thinking about the argument they had. He almost felt bad about being harsh on her this time. Actually, all she was trying to do was help... 'No, she was doing her job', his mind battled. 'She's doing the job she is payed to do'.

Soon, Mokuba became tired of running around and reached the bench, breathing heavily. He really did feel better now. When he reached them he said smiling awkwardly, "Let's go inside, I need to take a shower. Hehe.". Deciding it was indeed time to go back inside, they stood up and began walking towards the mansion.

Once inside, Mokuba ran to his bathroom and immediately took a shower leaving Anzu and Seto standing by the entrance. They glanced at each other. Anzu raising both her eyebrows as if she was trying to say he'd better move fast. Regarding her with one last passive look, Kaiba began walking through the living room and up the stairs towards his room. The entire time with Anzu close behind him. Once inside his bedroom, the first thing she did was go to his bathroom to get her epuipement. When she came out, Seto was already in bed with his eyes closed.

Anzu took a few steps to his bed and began taking out her stethoscope and blood pressure meter. Seto heard Anzu's presence next to him but didn't budge. Instead, when Anzu's hand touched his arm to put on the blood pressure meeting, he opened his eyes and briefly glanced at her before looking away once again. She measured his blood pressure, listened to his lungs and heart and took a listen at his kidneys. She nodded when all appeared to be normal.

"I told you it was nothing", Seto said annoyed at her need of proof.

"Better safe than sorry, Kaiba.", Anzu answered wisely. When she put away her things, she almost missed Kaiba's quiet whisper.

"Thank you", he whispered in gratitude before quickly looking out of his window. Anzu's eyes and mouth discretely widened in disbelieve. 'Did he just say...what I think he said?', she thought. Deciding she did hear well, she didn't press her luck.

"You're welcome, Kaiba", she answered and walked out of his room. Every step she made caused her eyes and mouth to expand wider and wider. Once she closed the door, she looked like a spooked owl monkey. Looking to her right and then to her left, she walked to her room in a enhanced pace.


End file.
